The NHL is built on bargains. Whichever team is able to squeeze as much value out of their players who all fit under the hard salary cap ceiling, typically finishes towards the top of the league standings and have a fairly good chance at winning the Stanley Cup.
The Toronto Maple Leafs have never been a team who has been able to do a whole lot of that in this Auston Matthews era and now, they might have just missed a major opportunity to get another big win for the front office. It's all about Easton Cowan and how he could have potentially been the next star to take security over a pay day.
On September 15, the new NHL CBA will come into effect. While some rules are already in play (such as every team needing to be salary cap compliant even in the playoffs), some are going to be introduced in a couple weeks. The biggest one is the length of contracts changing.
Currently, teams can re-sign their players to a maximum of eight-year contracts and sign unrestricted free agents to a maximum of seven years. That is going down to seven years for re-signing a current player, and six years for unrestricted free agents. This is why we saw some players like Montreal Canadiens winger Ivan Demidov and Philadelphia Flyers winger Tyson Foerster take eight-year contracts as early as possible this summer because this is their last chance to get that amount of security.
But, to re-sign a player to a contract extension, it has to be in their final year of their current contract. And unfortunately, the Leafs do not have any players who fall into that category.
Easton Cowan could have been the NHL's next bargain
Easton Cowan is going to be in the second year of his three-year, entry-level contract and while he is already providing immense value at his current cap hit as a potential top-six winger as soon as next season, it could have been better.
We see contracts around the league like the ones that the Carolina Hurricanes signed Jackson Blake and Logan Stankoven too, and really wonder if Cowan could have been locked up to something similar. Something like an eight-year contract that comes in at a respectable $6.5-million AAV, for example. The Leafs would be betting big on upside and it could be a disaster if he's just a 40-point winger for the entirity of that contract (or even worse), but even if he's just someone who forechecks hard, scores 20 goals a season, and always gives the Leafs a fighting chance, that contract could have been a steal within a couple years.
But, we won't be able to see that just because his contract stretches until the end of the 2027-28 season and the best Toronto will be able to do is sign him to a seven-year contract. It could still be a solid bet, but with another season under his belt and if he scores 60 or so points on a good team, he's probably going to want to maximize his value and not go for the option of security.
It's an opportunity gone, but it's nothing the Leafs could have realistically done. It's just unfortunate.
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